This invention relates generally to coin or token operated amusement device and more particularly to a skill based variation of the amusement game commonly called a coin pusher. In a coin pusher game, a player deposits a coin or token on a surface of a game board. On one side of the game board is a moving pusher device, which periodically sweeps or pushes coins or tokens off a predetermined portion of the board. Opposite from the pusher on the game board is an edge leading to a pay-off hopper. If coins are pushed by the pusher over the edge, the coins are collected in a hopper which determines a pay-off or reward to a player.
Coin pusher games are widely distributed where they are legal. In one variation of a coin pusher game, there is a level polished game board usually made of metal. An accumulation of coins will be placed on the level game board by the operator. The amount of coins necessary varies depending on the size of the game board and the mechanisms employed, but typically will be known to the operator. On one side of the game board, there is an edge. Coins that fall off or over the edge are typically collected in a hopper and paid to the player. Opposite from the edge is a mechanically operated sweeper or pusher device that sweeps a predetermined fixed area of the game board by pushing anything lodged in that portion of the game board toward the drop-off edge. If enough coins have accumulated on the level game board, it will appear that a large number of coins are unstably poised on the edge and ready to fall and provide a handsome reward to a player. This tempts a player to deposit a coin into the game. Typically, it falls in the area of the game board swept by the pusher. Most games allow a player to xe2x80x9caimxe2x80x9d the fall of the coin by allowing some player control over a coin guide. This introduces some level of skill in the game. However, the element of skill is not complete. The coin may fall to the game board on its edge hence, can roll on the game board rather than stopping at the place to which the player may wish to direct it by manipulation of the coin guide.
Theoretically, if enough coins collect on the playing area, then the addition of a further coin will cause one coin to fall off. Once this stage in which the game board is fully xe2x80x9cloadedxe2x80x9d, the game becomes a zero sum game in which the addition of a coin should cause, theoretically, a coin to be returned to the player. Of course, in practice, randomness enters into the equation so that some players may add one coin and collect ten, while other may add ten to collect one. But in the long run, this type of game, once the board is xe2x80x9cfully loadedxe2x80x9d, is a zero sum game in which the skill of the player in analyzing the board, determining where coins are most likely to fall off, then correspondingly directing the use of the coin chute to more effectively place new coins on the game board so as to cause accumulated coins to fall over the edge rewards a skillful player at the expense of the less skillful.
However, most coin pusher devices have slots cut into the side walls of the gane board. These will ordinarily be concealed by a mirror or in some other unintrusive fashion, so that a casual player will not notice these slots. Coins falling through these slots will not be returned to the player, but to the house or game operator. Consequently, games that have these slots cut in the side will have a set house percentage of the play. This turns this from a zero sum game into a gambling game where, in the long run, a skillful player is bound to lose because of the house percentage. Rules and laws governing the operation of games vary widely from local jurisdiction to local jurisdiction within the United States. Even within a particular jurisdiction, rules may vary in special venues, such as Indian reservations, on casino cruise ships, and the like. Many jurisdictions, which will allow a xe2x80x9cskill basedxe2x80x9d game that does not have a set house percentage, prohibit as unlawful the standard coin pusher game which has side slots for return of coins to the house.
The standard coin pusher game has limited skill and limited interest to a player. Consequently, the standard coin pusher game does not support the kind of play that a video poker game or a slot machine supports in which a player may stay at one machine and play for an extended period of time. More typically, in a coin pusher game, a player drops a few coins into the pusher to xe2x80x9ctryxe2x80x9d his luck and quickly moves on to another game. For these reasons, a variety of expedients have been proposed to make coin pusher games both more interesting and more skillful. For example, Malavazos et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,402, proposes a game board with a variety of holes through which coins may drop, as well as the standard edges. Here, the coin pusher is disposed on the game board but is generally cylindrical and rotates about an axis. A player may attempt to use a coin chute to aim coins into the holes or to roll coins in such a fashion as to knock other coins off the edge. This invention provides for more than one player to play the game at one time by having multiple coin chutes. Another variation of the coin pusher game is seen in Bechio, U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,816. Here, there are a variety of cylindrical-like game surfaces arranged above each other and spaced apart. A player drops a coin on the top surface, which may cause coins to fall on the cylindrical surface below it, which then causes coins to fall on the cylindrical surface below it, which then causes coins to fall on a cylindrical surface below it, where they may be finally pushed off the edge and into the player""s hopper. Because of the various surfaces involved, it allows a variety of different pusher designs with the added interest in which one coin falling off the first surface might cause five coins to fall off the second surface, which might cause twenty coins to fall off the third surface, and so on. Crompton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,699, discloses a variation of the coin pusher in which the coins themselves do not return to the player by means of a hopper, but rather are counted by a counting device based on the amount of coins a prize is determined which may be paid out to the player. Hagiwara, U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,572, provides a pusher game apparatus in which the stroke of the pusher may be varied based on whether a coin trips a xe2x80x9cjackpotxe2x80x9d device. If it trips a jackpot device, the pusher may be directed to sweep a greater area, thus substantially increasing the likelihood of coins falling off the edge hence, the pay-out to the player. Crompton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,455, proposes a coin pusher device with a hopper. Playing pieces deposited by a player may be held in the hopper, rather than dropped to a playing field. Once a sufficient number of playing pieces are in the hopper, the hopper will release them to the playing field, again, greatly increasing the likelihood of a large pay-out to a player giving a jackpot-like effect. Halliburton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,515, proposes a series of targets like train cars or dump truck beds. A player attempts to direct a coin by the coin track to land it in a particular dump truck bed or train car, which may cause all the coins accumulated in that receptacle to be paid to the player.
Despite these efforts there is still room for improvement in the broad field of coin pusher amusement devices. More specifically, there is room for a device which, if played properly, can be a game in which the house will have no preset or predetermined winning percentage. This type of game will be allowable in many jurisdictions where a standard coin pusher game with house side slots will not be allowed. In this type of game, there will be a standard horizontal playing field with at least one pusher. In variations of the game, there may be more than one playing field and more than one pusher in which a coin will first land on an upper horizontal field. Coins in this field will be swept by a pusher to a second lower field where a pusher will further sweep the coins and so on to where, after a multiple number of fields, there will be an edge where coins will fall either to be returned to a player or to the house. In this game, the player can control the coin guide through which a coin is deposited and hence, falls onto the playing field. This provides an initial level of skill, albeit with a good deal of randomness, that allows a player to attempt to deposit the coin into a particular area. When the coin is on the playing field, the pusher will move it toward the edge where it may cause other coins to fall, as with known pusher devices. There is skill involved in directing the coin into the appropriate area of the pusher field so that it will maximize the chances of coins falling off the edge. However, here, when coins begin to fall off the edge, the player must employ a player controlled chute or kicker, which diverts the coins into the player""s receptacle. A plurality of kickers may be employed, each of which covers a portion of the playing field edge. Hence, if a player employs the wrong kicker, he may fail to catch coins falling off the edge. Coins falling off the edge, which are not caught in the player""s kicker and directed to the player""s hopper, are not paid to the player or, at least, are not used in determining the player""s pay-out. Consequently, there is skill involved in not only directing a coin through the use of the coin guide to a particular area of the pusher field to increase the likelihood of coins falling off the edge, but also skill is required in determining where coins are most likely to fall off the edge. By anticipating where coins are likely to fall off the edge, the player can then correctly deploy the appropriate kicker to catch coins falling off the edge. Hence, concentration and reflexes also come into play in this game. Once the pusher field is completely loaded, a skillful player theoretically will be able to recover every coin which is deposited. Because earlier players may not have been so skillful or patient, a more skillful player than the average player may consistently win more than less skillful players. If all players are of equal skill and play the game at the ideal skill level, then the game can be a zero sum game with no guaranteed house percentage. Because there is no guaranteed house percentage, in many jurisdictions, this type of game will not be considered a gambling game and may be permitted where a standard pusher game with side house slots would not be permitted.